Sheet sorting mechanism



April 24, 1951 E. G. HARRISON 2,550,245

I SHEET SORTING MECHANISM Filed Dec. 8, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [0. 10 2'72 GT/E rrz'son April 24, 1951 E. G. HARRISON SHEET SORTING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 or to cause damage to the same.

Patented Apr. 24, 1951 TENT oF-F1c Q 1 SHEET SORTING MECHANISM Edwin G. Harrison, Glen Ellyn,-'I ll., assignor to i of West Virginia Ditto, Incorporated, Chicago, 111., a corporation Application December 8, 1945, Serial No. 633,623

My invention relatesto sheet sorting and more particularly to the sorting ofcards or otherfiexible sheets and to improved means'for carrying out such sorting. The present invention isan improvement over that disclosed and claimed in my Patent No. 2,233,814, dated March 4, 1941, on Method of, and Apparatus for Sorting Cards.

In carrying out the method of sorting cards or similar sheet material members disclosed in the above referred'to-patenha slit orother interruption isprovi'dedfin aflmargin of'='a .card or similar member of sheet material so as to provide a pair of freeedges onopposite side's ofthe interruption, and suitable means is applied toopposite sides-of the cards'or other sheet ma vterial members'for pressing-theportions of the sheet-on opposite sides of the interruption in op posite directions so that one of the sorting fingers v engaging 'theportion of the sheet material mernher on one side of .the' interruption will engage with "onei face of the sheet material member on one side of said finger'a'nd the other side of the nextadjacent finger willzengage theother side of said "sheet material member to thus guide the sheetbetween the two fingers and eventually into a pocket, tray'or other receptacle.-

f Difliculty has arisen in preventing the inter ruption, that is thus spread out 'or'opened up'by v means of the 'membe'rs'that press against the sheet in opposite 'directions, from remaining in such position with one of the free edges thereof out of aligmnent with the other free edge thereof. If the interruption, in the form of a slit or other opening extending 'inwardlylfronr the leading margin of the card or othersheet material memher, is left-inthisv spread or open position, "the tendency will be for the sheet to" catch; at the openingthus provided therein, on'theedges of the fingers where the same widen outto provide guiding means for the sheet vmaterialmembers to direct them toward the pockets or trays. ;l

'Itis a purpose of-rny invention to.;prevent the difficulty by providing sorting fingers that, in-

" stead, of having sudden or abrupt increases in width therein, gradually widen from the narrow sorting portions thereof to the guide plate forming portions thereof so as to avoid any abrupt t shoulders or other formations along the. edges thereof on which the free edge portions" of the interruption inthe marginal edge of the sheet might get caught to stop the movement thereof More particularly it is a purpose of my invention to provide in combinationwith suchfingers having gradually -widening gportio ns, ycards or 3 Claims. (01. 2 09 72) other members of flexible sheet material thathave an interruption .in one of themarginal edges thereof, which becomes the leading edge of the card or other sheetmaterial member while passing through the sorting apparatus, which has at least one of the freeedge portions of 'saidiinterruption extending at an oblique angle to' the said marginal edge, and at such an angle to a side edge of a diverging or widening portion of a finger that the inner end portion of the said free edge will engage the sloping side edge .of :the

, finger before engagement of the outer endzofrthe (free edge at its intersection with the marginal edge therewith. In this manner the edges that have been spread by opening up the interruption in the marginal edge of l thecard in themanner above referred to are closed up so that there-is. no

possibility of the interruption in the. marginal edge of the card or similar member-causing the card or similar member to be caughtin the 5posi tion; between the fingers soas not to moveoryinto the pocket or tray into which it is tobe'v passed and so that the same will not be damaged by engagement with such-side edge of ajsorting finger. g g i The interruptionsin the marginal edges of the card are of course to be arranged selectively along the margin of the card, or other member-to be sorted, at predetermined. points along; said mar-- ginal edge in accordance-with the character of the card or other sheet materialmember which determines the pocket or tray into which it should be sorted in the same manner that the slitsfgare located in the above referred to patent. How ever, instead of the slits extending inwardly perpendicularly to the marginal edge the samewould extend at such an oblique angle as to have the relationship to the one sideedgeof a finger above referred to, or instead of having slits, slotted the oblique angle above referred to.

openings would be provided in the marginal edge of a card or sheet material member differentially arranged as above stated with-at least one of the free edges producedby such a slot extending at Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear as the description @of-the drawings proceeds; I desire to have it understood however that I do not intend to limit myself to'theparticular details shown or described, except as. de fined in-the claims. v q Inthe drawings: 1 Fig. l is a fragmentary view, partly in elevation and partly in vertical section of a sortingapparatus to which my invention is applied;

, Fig. 2 is a perspective viewof a'portion ofthe" sorting apparatus showing a sheet material member passing into a pocket;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly broken away of a plurality of overlapped cards or similar members utilizing one form of my invention;

Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. 3 of a modification;

Fig. 5isa1similar 'view to Fig. 3' of a further modification;

Fig. 6 is a somewhat diagrammatic view showing a pair of the sorting fingers made in accordance with my invention and a cardrorisimilar sheet material member made in accordance with my invention in different cooperative-relationships to such fingers;

Fig. '7 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a pair of said fingers inqth'eqactof-guiding one of said sheet material members into position between the same;

Fig. 8 is a section taken on the line 8--8 oi Fig. 6;

iFig. Qisasimilar view taken on the lineS- 'Q of L-Fig. 6; v

:FigxlO is asimilar view'taken on the line lflill of Fig. 6 ;-and

11 is a fragmentary perspective view showing a sheet material member insuch position that the obliquely-extending"free=-edge of the interruptionisbeginni'ng to engage with: the obliquelyexten'ding side edge of one of the fingers.

Referring in d'etail tothe drawings, in Fig. 1

.is:shown a portion ofsthesorting machine made in accordance -'-with the invention disclosed in my: Patent 223338 14 but-embodying the improvements forming partof this-invention. As the general nature of-themachine is the same as disclosed in saidpatent, only I the portions are shown in this application that are-of importance to-the understanding'of the present invention.

suitable guides lfl lI, l2-and 53' are provided,

vthe c-urveil fingers20 and-2i which are adapted to-be' moved "from the full line position shown in Fig. 1 "to the dotted line position thereof, these fingers pressing againstthe sheet material memberon opposite sides thereof in opposite directi'ons at long itudinally spaced-points on the sheet material membernear the margin thereof as fin the machine disclosed in my above referred to patent, so that if there isaslit, a--slot or any-other kind of interruption in the marginal portion-of the card or other sheet material memb'emthat is to be sorted, theportion 2 20f such a member on oneside of the interruptionZ-S will pass-back of the finger- '24 while the other portion 2'5 on the other-side of saidinterruption-23 will pass in'front of the finger 26, adjacent the finger 24, the fingers -24 and 26 defining the entrance sorting portions 28 thereof merging gradually into the widening portions 29, the side edges 32 and 33 of the widening portions extending at a very slightangl'e to the parallel side edges of the narrow sorting portions 28.

After the interruption in the marginal edge .oftheeardor other sheet material member has been spread out or opened out as shown in Fig. 7, there is considerable tendency for the material to remain in this position or in at least a positiorr-in which theiree' marginal edges 3 1 and 35 ofrsaidz interruption are slightly out of alignment withteach'other. If aslit that extends perpendicularly to the leading-marginal edge of the card or other sheet material member were provided as showmin-rmy above referred to patent, the tendency :would be for the one marginal edge to-pass-on-ime side- (inf-ace of the finger28 that is; shownto-the-iefteof the slot or interruption in Figs. -6, 3'7 and i ll, -while,;;theother free marginal edgegt'hereof would tendto pass on-the other side of sai-d edge 3310f thewideningportionlfi of saidifinger which would eventually result in the card :QITzOthBI' flexible sheet. material member.becoming caught on. the finger, thus interfering would cause'tearing of the sheet material memto a passage leading i-nto a pocket or tray'into which the card 21 having the portions'22 and'2'5 will pass, this being illustrated in Fig. '7. The card32'his shownas'having passed'from the narrowsorting'portions 28 to the widened portions 29 of the fingers in --Fig. 11,"sa-id widened por ti'ons gradually tapering from the narrow porher if .:,suificienttforee'- has been exerted thereon to; cause-such tearing to take-"place inpassing it downwardly between the fingers.

I'Il, order to avoid this difficulty I have provided an interruption in the-marginal edge of the sheet materialmemberwhich serves the same purpose as the slit above referred ,to, but in which the marginal. edge 35 related'tothe obliquely extending-edge 33 of a widening portion 29v inthe manner above referred to extends-at an obliqueangle to the :marginal edgeof the sheet. Said oblique angle .is such that the inner end 36 of the interruption, which is shown inthe' form of an oblique- 1y "extending slit inFigsi2, 3, and 6 to 11 inclusive, will. engage the marginal edge 33 of the widening portion-2 9. of said finger first.

The-result of this is, that, due to the fact that the said'marginal edge engages'the slitat the inner :end thereof where'ft'he-material on opposite sides of theslit are substantially in alignment, said'widening portion :of the finger through action of'it's obliquely extending edge 33 will cam downv .or .fiattenr-out the edge portion 35 to align it withthe. edge portion 34 and thus 'by the time that-the outer en'dxs'l-iof said edge :35 engages the edge =i33,' there :willbb'e no possibility of said edge 3 5 getting on the :oppositerface of thewidened portion 29 to that on which. the. edge portion 34 lies.

In Fig.- 6:the slit 23 is shown as being partly open at the upper portion of said finger with the endsof the-finger28 in properengagement therewith to accomplish the'sorting of the card or similar' sheet materialmember into the proper'pocket or tr-a-y. In'the'dotted line position shown next to the fullline-posi-tion at-the top of-Fig.- 6, the end .36 of the 'slit has already passed the'edge 33 so figure, said slit is completely closed and "has entirely passed back of the wide portion of the finger 29. The relative position of the =fingers and the edge portions of the card when first enteringbetween the fingers is shown in section inFig.:8 While in Fig. :9 the card. is shown 'with' the two portions 22 and-25 on oppositesides of. the slit in substantial alignment witheach other at the point where the section" is taken, which is at a point at which the marginal edge 33 has already passed the end 36 of the slit. In Fig. 10 the two portions 22 and 25 areshown as being completely'aligned, the slit 23 being completely closed as the edge 33 has passed entirely beyond or over the slit and both the portions 22 and 25 of the marginalpart of the sheet material member or card 2'|fare on the same side of the member29, one member 29 being completely on oneside of the sheet and the other member 29 being on the other side thereof so that there is no possibility that the card or other sheet material member mightcatch on the member 29'."In Fig 11" the position of the marginal edge of the card is substantially as shown in the first dotted position shown in Fig. 6 with the inner end 36 of the slit 23 just starting to engage with the inclined edge 33 of the widening portion 29 of the one finger 28.

It will be noted upon reference to Fig. 6 that in order for the inner end 36 of the slit 23 to engage first with the marginal edge 33 of the left finger 28 in Fig. 6 the slit 23 must extend at an oblique angle to the leading marginal edge of the card or similar sheet material member that is being sorted that is less than the angle of the edge 33 to said leading edge.

In using my invention to sort a plurality of different cards, such as illustrated in Fig. 3, the cards being shown overlapped so as to expose only the marginal edges thereof except for the uppermost card, the slits are arranged with their ends that intersect the margin, spaced at predetermined points along said margin to determine a particular selection in accordance with the position of the slit provided on a particular card or set of cards. While cards are shown in Fig. 3 and also in Figs. 4 and 5 as having the interruption in the marginal edges thereof in a somewhat regular or stepped arrangement, this is merely for purposes of illustration, as the particular position of the slits or other interruptions in the cards would vary both in spacing and position from that shown in the drawings and would not, of course, come in any regular order relative to each other in entering the sorting machine as cards in the same position may follow each other or the slits may be in widely scattered positions in succeeding cards without in any way having any effect on the successful operation of the invention.

Thusin Fig. 3 a plurality of cards 4|, 42, 43, 44 and 45 are shown as having the obliquely extending slits 4-6, 41, 48, 49 and 56, which correspond in direction to the oblique angle at which the slit 23 extends, but having various positions along the and 58 respectively shown in Fig. 4, said slots having'one of the free edges'50 thereof extending at an oblique angle corresponding substantially to that of the slit :23 and having the other free edge .60 thereof extending perpendicularlyto the leading marginal edge of the card or other sheet 7 vide'd, preferably both marginal edges of the slot extend at an oblique angle and preferably the angle at which these extend is anacute angle and preferably a rather sharp acute angle, as that will aid in aligning the opposed edges of the slot at the inner end thereof as with the slit 23 above described.

The inner end of the slot 5| is indicated by numeral 6| and the slot 5| will first pass under the'edge 33 of the one widening portion 29 just as in the case of the slit 23. Slots 5|, 52 and 53 areall made in a similar manner, being merely in a, different position along the margins of the cards to sort the cards into different pockets or trays; A plurality of cards having slots therein having both the marginal edge extending at an oblique angle to the leading marginal edges of the cards or sheet material members is shown in Fig. 5, the cards 62, 63, 64 and 65 being Shown as being provided with obliquely extending tapering slots 66, 61, 68 and 69, the marginal edges '10 and 1| of said slots extending at an oblique angle to the marginal edge of the card or sheet material member and both inclining in the same direction, and the inner ends 12 of the said slots engaging the edges 33 of the fingers first in the same manner as the slits 36 engage the edges 33.

All of the slots '66, 61, '68 and 69 are made in the similar manner, but have different positions along the marginal edges of the cards to provide for the sorting thereof in the different trays or pockets. I

By using any of the forms of interruptiondescribed in the marginal edge of the card or sheet material member that is the leading edge, when such card or member is passed into the sorting mechanism, the result is accomplished that said cards or other sheet material members will not catch on the widening portions of the sorting members and will not be damaged by the inclined edges thereof.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a pair of guide plates each having a narrow flat sorting finger thereon, said fingers being arranged side by side in parallel spaced relationship, each of said fingers gradually widening at a point spaced from the ends thereof to provide obliquely extending side edges on each thereof extending at an acute angle to each other, of pieces of sheet material each having an interruption in a marginal edge thereof to provide a pair of free edges extending inwardly from said marginal edge, and means for pressing the portions of a sheet on opposite sides of said interruption in opposed directions to cause the portion thereof on one side of said interruption to engage one face of one of said sorting fingers land that portion on the other side of said interruption the opposed face of the other of said fingers.

2. The combination with a pair of fiat sorting fingers arranged side by side in parallel spaced relationship, said fingers having long narrow end portions having substantially parallel side edges and: gradually widening-=portions;extendingdrom; said narrow..- end: portions: having :diverging: side:v

edges extending: atwan: acute angle; towthep longiw.

said; marginal ,edge having, at (least one of' said free edgesextending atan' acuteangle to said marginal, edge such that the: inner? endv .of; said free edge engages the diverging sideiedge-of 0116' of said fingersbefore any; other: portion of" saidfree edge engages the same.

3. The combination withapair of. flat-sorting; fingers; arrangedside by: sideein'rparallel :spacedt relationship, said fingers wideningyatna point. spaced from the end thereof, ofepiecesmf. sheet material each having-an interruptionima margina1- -edge thereof, said edges-v being the leading;

edges of said'pieces-of sheet material as the same move into engagement with said-sorting fingers,- said interruption providing-a pair offree: edges extending inwardly-from: said'marginal edge,.at

least one of: said free-edges, extending at an oblique angle to said marginal edge, and means-= for: pressing the portionsrof: atsheet on. opposite. sides of said interruption; inqzopposedi directionsw to cause the portion lrthereofiionrone side of said; interruption to. engage: one face; of i one Of said sortingfingers' andthat portion-on-the other side. ofisaid interruption the .opposedfaceiof the other of said.fingers,xthe widening portionsof said fin-- gers having side edges: extending; at an; obtuse angle to theleadingmarginal edge of said piece of'sheet material less, than that of said obliquely extendingifree edge.

EDWIN G. HARRISON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of thispatent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name: Date 1,259,330 Wilson Mar. 12, 1918 1,529,337 Woods- Mar. 10, 1925 1,817,511 Ford 'Aug.'4, 1931 1,880,428 Ford Oct. 10, 1932 2,233,814 Harrison "Mar. 4, 1941 

